At the conclusion of a two-week training programme on Combating Desertification and Climate Change sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs during the weekend at the Central Academy for State Forest Services (CASFoS), Bahuguna stated that the India-Africa partnership is unique and owes its origins to history and the common struggle of the two against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease, illiteracy and hunger.

He emphasised on the importance of desertification control and climate change mitigating measures in a rapidly globalising world. He also appreciated the organisation for such training programmes.

Adding that these would help benefit the people of India and also the populations in various

African nations. The valedictory session was addressed by director, forest education, Dharmendra Verma, who stressed on the fact that climate change and desertification interact with each other at a variety of levels and that they are two major manifestations of the same problem.

CASFoS principal Ashish Rawat said that one of the major decisions taken during the Indio-Africa Forum Summits was to place science and technology, agricultural research, education, information technology, energy, infrastructure and environmental sustainability as key areas of cooperation. In the second summit, India has committed to offer an additional 700 million US dollars to establish new institutions and training programmes in consultation with the African Union and its institutions.

In this context, various training programmes sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs are being organised on numerous topics including climate change and desertification. The purpose of this course was to sensitise the participants about different aspects of desertification and climate change and the role that forests have to play in mitigation of global warming.

This was also a platform for sharing of knowledge and technical know how about opportunities available and the strategies formulated for combating the menace. This training programme was third in a series of eight such programmes to be held at the the Central Academy for State Forest Service. It was attended by 28 participants including senior forest officers, academicians and scientists from 15 African countries.

This programme included classroom sessions, case studies and group exercises in addition to six-day field visits to successful experiments in India and travelling workshops to watershed management sites in Uttarakhand and desertification combat sites in Rajasthan.